Half Breed
by ITman496
Summary: When a mysterious creature shows up on Veldin, how will everyone react? As for Aphelion, she's dying to know the young boy's secret... AU
1. Mystery

_Authors' Note: This is a co-written fic between ITman496 and Lomcat93. It stars Aphelion and Aero, ITman496's OC. FYI, Aphelion is in her red form; she got whacked by Clank's Chronoscepter so she could revert to her old form. =) R&R please._

-ITman: This is my first fic! Yay!

_-Lomcat: Not for me! lol_

-ITman: I can't wait to see the feedback!

_-Lomcat: I hope it's not too harsh..._

_**Disclaimer: Neither ITman496 nor Lomcat93 own any aspect of Ratchet and Clank; the games belong to Insomniac Games. ITman496 is the sole owner of Aero. Lomcat93 owns nothing.**_

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**Half-Breed**

**Chapter 1: Mystery**

The weather on Veldin was scorching hot. Every living thing was hiding in their homes, trying to take advantage of what little shade there was. That is, every creature except one. A young human boy, who looked to be around 8 years old, trudged tiredly through the dry, sandy mountains. He sat on a rock near a thin, scraggly tree, looking miserable and lonely.

_'How did I get here?'_ he thought sadly, _'Where __**is**__ here? I don't see anyone." _He looked around desperately, feeling helpless.

----

Meanwhile, an ancient, red space ship hovered outside a small metal house about 15 miles away. Her vision sensors kept glancing over at the house, as if it expected something to appear at its doorstep.

_'Where is that Lombax?'_ she thought disdainfully, _'He never shows up on time!'_

Tired of waiting, the ship revved her engine. The loud roar echoed through the area. Nothing happened; it was as if no one was paying attention to the ship. With a grumpy "humph", the ship lifted off the ground, gaining altitude at an alarming rate. Once she was clear of any obstacles, she engaged her afterburners and sped off into the distance.

----

The young boy was still sitting on the rock. He looked uncomfortable, as he was shifting his weight constantly. After a few minutes of moving around, he finally decided to lay on the rock. He gazed thoughtfully at the sky above him, still wondering how he'd gotten there.

He knew one thing for sure; even though he was lonely, he was glad that he'd escaped his home planet. Had he not, then he would have certainly been dead...

----

Twenty minutes had passed since Aphelion had angrily blasted off. She was beginning to regret it; she was starting to get lonely as she soared through the Veldin sky. As she flew over a barren mountain range, her vision sensors swept the ground curiously. There was nothing on the ground; the animals that usually scurried around the mountains were most likely hiding from the sun.

_'Even the wildlife has left me alone,'_ she thought miserably.

As she thought about turning around, her sensors picked up a small, nearly motionless life form. She focused on it for a second, trying to think of what to do. After a few seconds of thought, she tilted her nose toward the ground, planning an immediate landing.

----

The young human continued to stare hopelessly at the sky. He didn't know what to do; he was stuck in an odd desert with creatures he'd never seen before. He didn't know whether to be thankful or terrified about ending up here. He sighed, and shut his eyes, tired of seeing the unfamiliar desert. As he did so, Aphelion shot through the sky, in clear view of the human to notice her, had his eyes not been tightly shut. He thought he had heard something, but figured it was another animal and sighed sadly. He would give anything to just have someone or something to talk to...

----

Aphelion had all her sensors focused on the small life form, wondering what the creature was. She had never seen anything like it. It only had a small patch of fur on his head, and the rest of it was covered in skin, and it appeared to have some form of fabric clothing on. She thoroughly searched every sector of her memory banks, and found nothing. This was an unknown life form, a concept rare to the Lombaxian fighter. She soon throttled back on her engines as to be quiet, and glided to a silent landing.

Aphelion floated silently on the ground toward the small life form, behind the thin tree, knowing that the cover was dismal, but it would have to do. She sat there, observing the creature.

The small child tossed and turned, trying to find a comfortable position, before sighing loudly and giving up, rolling off of the stone and sitting in its small shadow, hugging his knees against his chest and resting his head between them. He was at a right angle to the ship, just 20 feet away. He started to realize just how alone he was. He thought about how he would starve to death, or die out here. The child closed his eyes, tears starting to form, falling to the hot, dry sand below.

If Aphelion had a heart, it would have cracked at the sight of this. She did not know who or what the creature was, but it was quite obvious it was a small child, and it was sad. She was a smart ship, and judging by the fact that she did not even know what this creature was, chances are that it was the only one left, much like Ratchet.

_ 'Could it be lonely? Is that why its sad?'_ she thought. She wanted to come out and comfort it, but she was not ready too. She could accidentally scare the creature away. Instead, she just stayed back, observing, waiting for the right moment...

The small child made a small, sad sounding whine, more tears starting to drop. He thought he was going to be stranded here, with no idea about what was going on, or any idea of where he was. He rolled onto his side, struggling to stay in the shadow of the rock he was pressed against, knowing he would die of dehydration if he was in the sun for too long. But at the rate he was crying, chances are that he would die of it anyway...

Aphelion could not take it any longer. She had seen enough, she knew that the young creature was obviously in need of some form of comforting. She slowly and silently came out, floating within view of the small life form.

The small human child's vision was blurred with tears, and all he saw of her was a red splotch with some black and gold areas. He blinked the tears out of his eyes, and then went wide eyed when he saw the ship this close to him so suddenly. He pressed himself against the rocks with a yelp of surprise, visibly shaking in fear. He quickly looked at the whole ship, but his eyes kept falling back to the 4 large guns on the wing tips. Several questions rushed through his mind, such as _'How is that thing floating?!'_ and _'Is that a space ship?' _But the one thought that kept repeating was _'Oh... I'm so dead...'_

Aphelion stayed still, trying to get the small child to calm down. The last thing she wanted was to present herself as a threat. She saw no reason to panic, but judging by what it was wearing, she could see that it was somewhat primitive compared to the other species she knew of.

_ 'Fabric clothing... Not very good for protection from the elements, or good for protection from weapons either... All it looks like it can do is hide parts of its body, and that's about all... Poor thing...'_ she thought to herself.

All of these thoughts were processed in her mind in less then a second. She floated slowly over to the small thing, not wanting to scare it further. "Are you alright?"

The small child squeaked in surprise, not expecting the ship to emit the synthesized female voice it did. He starred at it, and looked in the tinted canopy. When he did not see anyone inside, he wondered if that was the ship itself talking to him. He answered the ship in a small voice. "W-who are you?"

Aphelion's nose dipped a little in sadness when she noticed the creature's fear. She decided that answering it truthfully would hopefully get it to trust her.

"My name is Aphelion. I'm a Lombax star fighter. Who are you?" she questioned, hoping to figure out who and what this creature was.

"My n-name is Aero, and I am a human..." he replied in a small voice.

Aphelion tilted to the side in thought. "A human?" Aphelion had never heard of such a thing. "What planet are you from?"

Aero answered quietly. "Earth. What planet is this?" he asked, realizing that this was not earth. His suspicions were confirmed.

"Earth?" She had never heard of the planet. She shook off her confusion briefly as she answered, "You are on planet Veldin. What galaxy is Earth in?" she asked curiously, desperately wanting to know where this planet was.

Aero sighed. He must be really far away. "The Milky Way Galaxy."

Aphelion's nose dipped down a few inches when her memory bank search produced no results. "I am sorry, I can't seem to find any data on that galaxy. You are currently in the Solana galaxy. Have you heard of it?" she asked hopefully.

Aero saddened more. "Nope... never heard of it... So, you're from this planet, aren't you?"

"No, I am from planet Fastoon, the Lombax home world."

Aero looked at the ship in front of him, taking in the sleek curves, as well as the huge thrusters on the back end. "Are you a space ship?" he asked, wanting to confirm his suspicion.

Aphelion stared at Aero for a second. _'This boy is very confused and misinformed...'_ she thought. "Yes, I am."

"So, you can just fly off now if you'd like?" the young boy questioned.

"Yes, I can," Aphelion answered. She was amazed at the creature's lack of knowledge.

Aero's eyes lit up in amazement, looking up at the sky, not believing that this ship floating in front of him could just take off there any moment it chose to. "Earth doesn't have space ships... well it does, but they aren't very good. They have made it to the moon, but that's about all..." he said, frowning slightly.

"Well, that's...strange." Aphelion didn't really know how to respond. Her suspicion of these 'humans' being primitive seemed to be true, but she didn't want to voice this opinion, for fear of insulting the already miserable creature.

"That, and we don't have talking computers. Well, we do, but not ones that you can actually continue a conversation with." Aero was starting to feel a little more comfortable around the strange, speech-enabled space ship. He sat up a little straighter, eager to hear what else the ship had to say.

"Well, a lot of planets in this galaxy have computers that you can converse with," Aphelion explained, careful not to brag, "I myself am a computer that can keep a conversation going. But I'm sure you've already noticed that." She paused, unsure of what else to say. After a few microseconds of thinking, she continued, "So, why are you wandering around in the mountains all by yourself?"

At this, Aero's eyes seemed to darken. Aphelion guessed he didn't want to talk about this, so she prepared to change the subject. But before she could act, Aero finally spoke up. "I'm not entirely sure how I got here, but I'm glad I'm not where I was before..." Aero paused, unable to continue. Dark memories swirled in his mind as his thoughts lingered on the subject. He whimpered slightly, as if re-living a nightmare. He slid closer to the rock and curled into a tight ball.

Aphelion pitied the poor boy. She did not understand his sudden change in emotions, but she was experienced in comforting frightened soldiers. _'Perhaps I can use the same tactics on him.' _Aphelion glided slowly toward the human, trying her best not to startle him. "Maybe you'll feel better if you stand up," she advised. She turned herself so that she was parallel with the saddened boy. "Need a wing?" she offered, while tilting toward him slightly.

Aero looked up and giggled a little. He reached his hand up and took hold of the star fighter's dusty wing. As he stood up, he realized that the ship was covered in unusual symbols. Her red paint was fading badly, so the silver steel was visible in some places. _'This ship must be ancient,'_ he thought.

"There," Aphelion proclaimed, "Feel better yet?"

"A little," Aero replied.

"So," Aphelion continued carefully, "Did you want to delve further into your story? You don't have to, if it makes you uncomfortable-"

"No, I'm alright. I can continue," Aero said, secretly trying to encourage himself. _'Oh, come on,'_ he lectured himself silently, _'Quit being scared of a stupid memory!'_

"W-Well," he began shakily, "I w-was running from these bad people. They were t-trying to catch me, so they could use m-me for something..." he stopped there, glancing at Aphelion. The ship tilted her nose slightly, encouraging the boy to continue. "They know I am...special. They want to c-catch me and use my power for their own gain, and this s-scared me. So I kept running. And then suddenly, there was this bright white flash," he paused, his eyes staring at the sand with an empty look, "And now I'm here. ...I still don't know what happened."

Aphelion, who had been listening intently, found that she was just as confused as Aero looked. She and Aero remained silent for a long moment, staring blankly at each other. "Well," Aphelion finally said, "I don't know what to say. I have no idea how to explain that..." She focused on what Aero had just told her, refusing to give up. "What about the bad people? Are they human like you?"

"Yeah, they are," Aero answered, with a tinge of sadness in his tone. He felt betrayed. Weren't the government and the police supposed to be the good guys? Everyone said they were his friends, but all they did to him was try to capture him like a stray animal; like a dog fleeing from a dog catcher. A small tear formed in his right eye, running down his face and dripping onto the ground, making a silent thud as it hit the dry sand, instantly absorbed.

Aphelion saw this tear, and felt bad for the poor creature in front of her. Her thoughts always went back to what he had said, something about a 'power'. _'I wonder what he means by a special power,' _she thought to herself, very curious about it. She finally decided to ask. "What do you mean when you said they wanted your power? What special power do you have?"

Aero's eyes darkened again in sadness, another tear forming. "I h-have telekinesis..." he mumbled sadly. He didn't even want telekinesis; what's the point of being 'special' if everyone tries to steal that special thing from you?

Aphelion nearly fell to the ground in shock. _'Telekinesis?! The Lombax elders said that only special lombaxes could have that! Does this mean they were lying, or that this child really is special?'_ she thought to herself, not asking more so as to not upset the child further.

Aero was now shifting uncomfortably, the sun beating harshly onto his small body. He tried to get into a comfortable position, but was unable to.

Aphelion noticed his uncomfortable shifting and turned to him. _'He looks like he is going to fall over any second.'_ she thought to herself, seeing his small frail body try to withstand direct contact with the harsh sun, after being out here without shade for most likely hours. He was dehydrated, sweating profusely, and shaking slightly from weakness. He was a pitiful sight to the star fighter.

After about 10 seconds, she could not take looking at him like this anymore, and popped her canopy open. "Here, climb in, you look like you are about to fall over." she said softly, trying to make him trust her.

Aero smiled, and sighed loudly in relief, hurriedly climbing into her cockpit, curling up in the pilot's seat. He made another small sigh and stretched, before curling up tighter, burying his head into the back of the soft seat. Aphelion's hatch closed quickly after he came in, and the soft hum of the air conditioning could be heard. Aero smiled, feeling the cool breeze hitting him. Every inch of his small body welcomed the cold air, his skin ceased to produce sweat. He lifted his small hand and ran it through his long, shiny black hair, trying to smooth it a little. He soon finished and closed his eyes, thankful for the chance to relax.

Aphelion had been silent the whole time, letting the small child settle. _'He is a cute little creature, I'll admit,' _she thought to herself, internally smiling. She let her thoughts buzz around what she had learned, and they kept landing on the white flash that got him here. _'I really wonder if he stepped on a teleporter pad. But, his planet would not have any, if they don't have any other advanced technology. He surely would have mentioned teleporting to me when he was talking about his planet. I wonder what that was,' _she thought, really wanting to ask.

After about 5 minutes, she could hold the question in no longer. "Are you sure you don't remember how you got here?" she asked softly, and when he shook his head 'no', she continued. "Do you remember stepping on some sort of circular pad?"

Aero looked up as he tried to remember. His deep blue eyes lit up as he began to remember something like that. "Yeah! I did, actually... But it didn't look important. All it really looked like was a big disk with some vents around the edges, some blue glowing parts, a big glowing orb in the center, and a scratchy number on it. It said 001." he said, not knowing why she had asked him about that.

Aphelion dropped a few inches in her hover. _'Oh my... Could it really be that?!' _she thought to herself, alarmed. "I know what that was..." she said to the small boy.

Aero looked up at her screen. "What was it?"

END CHAPTER  


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_Well that's the first chapter! Who knows what Aero has discovered? _

_Lomcat: Now, click the little review button, please; it'll only take a second. =)_

_ITman: Yeah... I need feedback! No... We need feedback!_


	2. Exploration

_Authors' Note: So far, it seems like this fic is becoming pretty popular. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter; it kept us motivated. So, here's the next chapter; R&R please._

ITman496: Yeah! I love answering reviews! ^^

_Lomcat93: Who doesn't?_

_**Disclaimer: Neither Lomcat93 nor ITman496 own any rights to Ratchet and Clank; it belongs only to Insomniac Games. ITman496 does own Aero, however.**_

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**Half-Breed**

**Chapter 2: Exploration**

_Aphelion dropped a few inches in her hover. 'Oh my... Could it really be that?!' she thought to herself, alarmed. "I know what that was..." she said to the small boy._

Aero looked up at her screen. "What was it?"

-----

Aphelion sighed, wondering if she could trust this foreign life form with classified information. _'General Azimuth would dismantle me if he found out!' _She gazed at the boy's curious expression. He seemed desperate to know, as if this single answer would change everything for him. She was still hesitant, however.

Aero's face changed from curious to dismayed in that short moment. "Aren't you going to answer me?" he questioned. He sounded almost heartbroken.

Aphelion hesitated a moment longer, then blurted out, "Well, it's a teleporter, made with Lombax technology. But it was _very_ unstable; it could teleport _itself_ as well as the user. That's why the Lombaxes were thinking of destroying it." Aphelion still felt slightly reluctant, but she couldn't take back her confession now.

"Well," Aero said while stretching out slightly, "I'm thankful they didn't destroy it. It was my only way off that planet."

"Yes, that's true," Aphelion said reluctantly. She was not sure that she could agree with the boy. After all, that cursed thing is the reason that he is under so much stress. "If it wasn't for that teleporter though, you wouldn't be stuck in these harsh mountains."

"If it was not for that teleporter, I would be torn open by scientists trying to extract my power so they could make a weapon out of it," he countered.

"Yes, I guess that's true..." Aphelion hated to admit that the teleporter was 'good'. _'I guess there's a use for everything...'_ she thought disdainfully.

Aero closed his eyes, felling delighted that he'd won the argument. He was right after all, wasn't he? He relaxed for a bit, until a curious thought popped into his head. "Hey, Aphelion," he began, while keeping his eyes shut, "What's space like?"

The question took Aphelion by surprise. _'What's space like? There really isn't a proper answer to that!' _She thought carefully before responding. "Well," she said slowly, "It has a lot of... space." Aero raised an eyebrow at Aphelion's monitor; it was obvious that he wanted a better answer. Aphelion sighed, then said, "How about I just show you? It's too complex to describe."

Aero nodded excitedly. He couldn't wait to see other planets and stars up close! Aero buckled into the front seat and gazed at Aphelion's control panel. "Um, Aphelion, what should I push?"

Aphelion laughed a little. "You don't need to push anything. I can fly by myself, so just relax."

Without further warning, Aphelion took off of the ground, quickly gaining altitude. Aero made an odd squeak and slid back in his seat. He looked out the window to find the ground quickly growing distant beneath them. He gasped in amazement, pried his gaze away from the ground, and looked straight up at the darkening sky. Distant planets slowly came closer, as Aero realized they had left the atmosphere. He glanced back at the planet they had departed from. Veldin was now nothing but a speck of dusty brown in the endless sky.

As she flew, Aphelion sensed that Aero was startled at the speed of which she flew, but she didn't dare slow down until they left Veldin's atmosphere; doing so would have ended badly. They would have lost enough power to plummet back to the planet's surface; both of them would have been torn up as they hit the ground. She drove the horrible thought out of her mind and focused on her flying. "What do you think of it?" she questioned the human.

Aero was speechless for a moment. He had his face smashed against the window, trying to get a glimpse of everything. He was mesmerized by the grandeur of the endless mass of planets, stars, meteors, and passing ships. _'Wait. There are other ships? I thought Aphelion would be the only one up here...'_

Aphelion was amused at his silence, and decided to take his speechlessness as an answer.

Aero's head was still pressed to the canopy, trying to see everything. He thought he knew what space looked like from the night sky, but without an atmosphere blocking his view, everything was _much_ more vivid and visible. The blackness of space was glittered with trillions of glittering spots of light. Some were white, some were blue, some purple, and some red. Some were even yellow and orange, much like Earth's sun.

Everything shimmered as well. Huge nebulas of cosmic dust seemed to glow under a mysterious source of light, which was actually everything around them. Occasionally a ship would pass, its running lights and engines adding to the beauty and awe of the whole scene. He continued to glance out the window, looking at how easily Aphelion cruised through this, seeing the trail of glowing flame that her engines left in their wake. Then he realized he had forgotten to breathe, and gasped for air. He coughed and looked down nervously, embarrassed.

Aphelion knew what had happened and laughed to herself. "You do need to breathe, Sweety," she remarked, only teasing Aero.

She made a graceful turn to the left, banking gently. The six orange glowing gravimetric stabilizers on her two large wings brightened as she did this, emitting a low hum as they bent space-time around themselves to make the wings act as if they were in an atmosphere. It bent the fabric of the universe around them ever so slightly, but with precision, to allow Aphelion to fly effortlessly and without having to aim thrusters in every direction to hold a trajectory. As she finished the slow ark, the bright glow dimmed, and the low hum softened into nothingness.

Space dust bent around her sleek hull as they flew, like fog around an airplane. Her armor had and always was broadcasting its own electromagnetic field around itself, bending the small pieces of space debris around her hull without ever actually touching it. The four ram scoops on her hull, however, were a different story. The two on her split nose and the two on each side were funneling space dust in like there was no tomorrow, routing the debris through very strong sets of raritanium alloy electromagnetic extractors, pulling massive amounts of energy from them. The energy was then routed throughout her systems, and then diverted to the engines. It would then run the ion drive, and allow her to use much less fuel to keep her speed. If she flew fast enough, she could take in so much dust and make so much energy, that she didn't even need to burn any fuel at all.

While Aphelion was speeding up, trying to achieve this feat, Aero had been watching all of this, wondering just how advanced the Lombaxes were. His train of thought was interrupted by a shuddering _fwoommm_ as Aphelion's ion drives ignited, and a dull whirl as her engines shut down. The quiet, high pitch whine of her rockets was replaced by the moderate pitch electrical hum from the ion drives. The streak of red and orange flame behind them was replaced by a much higher intensity blue and purple one, with arcs of electricity mixing with the flame. He jumped in surprise, and looked at Aphelion's monitor, hoping that nothing went wrong, and that everything was fine.

Aphelion sensed his sudden alertness. _'Whoops... I need to work on my transitions to ion drive,' _she thought to herself, a little embarrassed.

"Sorry Sweety, I was engaging my ion engines, I did not mean the transition to be so... rough," she said, hoping he would understand.

Aero nodded, and realized something. _'Aphelion has called me Sweety twice now... Is this going to be her pet name for me? I hope not,'_ he thought. He decided to test his theory, and called out to Aphelion.

"Hey, Aphelion?" he asked, hoping the answer would not be 'Yes, Swee-

"Yes, Sweety?" replied Aphelion in her usual, happy tone, cutting Aero's thought off unknowingly.

Aero groaned, flopping back onto the seat.

Aphelion saw this, and grew concerned. "What's wrong?" she asked, hoping that everything was all right.

"Oh... nothing," said Aero, not wanting to bring it up. Aphelion replied with an audible 'shrug' and kept on flying. She twisted her right wing by one fifth of a degree, adjusting her course slightly. The gravimetric stabilizers made a low hum for a second as they encountered resistance in their original path, the straight form of space-time hitting them at a slight angle, much like air hitting a fin on an airplane. It soon corrected itself, and dimmed back to its normal holding status, as they never actually fully turned off.

Aphelion soon reached an ideal cruising speed and shut her ion engines off as well, plunging the cockpit into silence. Aero looked at the display, making sure that everything was alright, before just taking in a general look around him. Everything was dead silent. The instruments in the dashboard glowed softly, and her display screen pulsated softly. He saw the ion streams come from nothingness into a multicolored aurora around Aphelion, the charged particles hitting the similarly charged repelling field, causing them to hit each other and heat up, forming many glowing streams around her sleek curves. It collected on the leading edges of her wings and nose, and also around the canopy. As they moved, it was swept back, like smoke in a wind tunnel, forming very beautiful contrails in their wake.

Aero was taking this all in, and he was becoming sleepy. Everything was peaceful, and Aphelion had activated the seat's built in heating unit, making him even more comfortable. He shifted, his eyes becoming droopy.

Aphelion noticed this, and dimmed the instruments and her display monitor, as well as the cockpit lights. Everything was now very dim, mostly lit by the stars surrounding them. Aero's eyes drooped even more. He let himself slide onto the seat, curling up on it.

Aphelion saw this and had to resist making any noise at the cute sight. She just kept silent, using her two small navigation thrusters to maintain her current speed, knowing that the ion drives or her normal engines would be much too loud, and would wake Aero up. She internally panicked when they hit an area of temporal disturbance, the ripped area of space-time causing her stabilizers to glow an intense red and emit a low, shuddering roar as her hull buffeted in the space equivalent of heavy turbulence. To her relief, though, Aero was not woken up by this. Instead, interestingly, he was actually put asleep further, the rocking motion having the same effect on him that it did on almost all young creatures. After about five minutes of this, the turbulence stopped, the gravimetric stabilizers returned to their soft orange and emitted a small stream of superheated particles as they cooled off. The intense heat of the heavy use they were just subjected to caused the space dust that hit them to instantly disintegrate into their core components; electrons, protons, and neutrons. The superheated stream quickly joined the contrails, making them glow an even more vivid color.

Aero made a small sigh in his sleep, shifting around. Aphelion nearly went into sleep mode as well, but then her radar beeped, reminding her that there were other crafts around as well. She carefully and silently maneuvered through the crowded star system, nearly at the other side of the galaxy by now. And Ratchet was probably still in his house, not knowing that she had even left. _'That Lombax.. he always treats me like a normal ship! I have feelings too, you know,'_ she grumbled to herself, _'At least this child understands me.'_

Aphelion's stabilizers made a soft hum as she weaved through the interstellar traffic. She did not know how long the child would be sleeping, and she didn't want to wake him up. _'He probably needs the rest, judging by what he has been through,' _she thought to herself, half of her sensors focused on his sleeping form. Her internal chronometer indicated that he had been asleep for well over five hours. _'Five hours, thirty-six minutes, and 28 seconds,' _she thought to herself, wanting to know an exact time, _'I wonder how long humans sleep for.'_

As if responding to her thoughts, Aero started to wake up. He stirred, his eyes fluttering open. He looked up and saw the stars, and smiled. In his mind, he was secretly _very_ relieved that this was all true, and not some extremely elaborate dream that his mind made up. He slowly sat up, rubbing his eyes, trying to get the sleep out of them. He blinked a few times, and looked at Aphelion's monitor, while yawning and stretching.

"Morning, Aphelion," he said in a small voice.

"Glad to see that you are awake, Sweety," said Aphelion in her usual cheerful voice. That voice made Aero smile every time. It was just so happy sounding, that it could bring him out of even his most depressed states. He looked at his, now familiar, surroundings. He was excited to see space again. Then a thought entered his sleepy mind.

"Aphelion?" he asked quietly, "How long have we been flying?"

"A little more than six hours," she replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

Aero was astounded. _'Six hours? Won't she need fuel?'_ More questions popped into his mind. "Where exactly are we going?" he asked, deciding this was the most important one.

"Well," Aphelion began, "I'm attempting to locate Earth."

Aero panicked. _'I don't want to go back!'_ He wanted to scream this at Aphelion, in hopes it would force her to change course. He opened his mouth to protest, then immediately snapped it shut. _'But she's been so nice to me... I don't want to yell at her; she's only trying to help.'_

Before he could figure out what to say, Aphelion piped up, "I bet you'll be so happy to see your home world. And what about your parents? I'll bet they'd be delighted to have you back."

Aero flinched, as if Aphelion had just insulted him. "I don't have parents, Aphelion. At least, not any more. And besides, I can't go back because of the bad guys, remember?"

If Aphelion had a heart, it would have cracked. _'I didn't realize that he was an orphan. He sounds so miserable,'_ she thought. She promptly began to criticize herself. _'How could I have been so closed-minded? Of course he wouldn't want to go back! Stupid me!' _But a part of her still wanted to help the child. _'He doesn't belong here. He belongs on Earth, no matter who does or doesn't want him there.'_ She paused, thinking of her options. _'Well, I've got to help him somehow.'_

"Can I make a deal with you?" she asked.

Aero hesitated. _'She's really not going to give up, is she?'_ "Depends," he replied.

"Well, how about I take you to Earth, and I'll help you eliminate those bad people? Then you can stay on your home planet, where you belong." She noticed Aero's silence, and continued, "Listen. You really don't belong on any other planet. You'll be an outcast. No one pays attention to outcasts." She was becoming slightly annoyed. _'Why can't this human see the pain in being an outcast? He doesn't know anything about loneliness...'_

"I'm already an outcast, Aphelion. No one else can do what I can," he retorted. Aero was also annoyed. _'Why can't she just drop it?'_ he thought.

"Yes, but I'm sure that once we eliminate the people that are trying to get you, you can live a happy life," responded Aphelion, not quite understanding.

Aero sighed. "Aphelion... You can't get rid of them. The whole government is after me. That's millions of people, including the whole military. If we kill them, then the whole world will get thrown into chaos. And I think its impossible to kill them all, anyway." he said, hoping she would get it.

Aphelion froze. _'The whole government is after him?! I thought it was just a few people. This could be an issue,' _she thought to herself, trying to thinking of something. "Okay, I'll make another deal. Lets go to Earth, and see how bad it is. Also, I would like to see this teleporter, as I want to try to bring it back." she said softly, trying to keep Aero from getting any more upset.

Aero looked down sadly. But at least she was not forcing him to stay like last time. "Okay... Deal... as long as I don't have to live there..." he said, relieved quite a bit.

Aphelion was divided. Half of her wanted to leave the small child on his home planet, to make him happy, but the other half knew that if she left him there, he would be miserable and he'd suffer, and most likely die. She decided to think about it later, when she can actually see how serious it was. Children usually exaggerated things, and she was thinking that this was no different.

Aero was still distressed over the whole ordeal, visibly shaking a little. The absolute _last_ thing he wanted to do was stay there. He had someone who cared for him now, unlike on Earth, where everyone was after him thanks to a large reward placed on his capture. He glanced out of the canopy, trying to cheer himself up, but then looked down again, blinking some tears out of his eyes.

Aphelion noticed this, and sighed. "Don't worry, Sweety. Everything will work out. I promise," she said, trying to cheer him up.

Aero looked up and smiled a bit. "Thanks Aphelion," he said gratefully, not nearly as sad anymore. _'At least I can count on Aphelion, even though she's a little stubborn.'_

Aphelion smiled internally and fired up her engines, the medium pitched whine and slight rumble of the engines coming online filled the cockpit.

"So where are we going now?" asked Aero curiously.

Aphelion hesitated. _'Where are we going, anyway?'_ she asked herself, not really knowing. She searched quickly through her memory, trying her best to find anything related to Earth. She was frustrated when she realized her search brought up zero results. Then, she suddenly remembered the IRIS supercomputer. _'IRIS knows a lot more than me,'_ she thought excitedly,_ 'And that computer is _way_ bigger than my CPU.'_

"We are going to the IRIS supercomputer," she stated, making a gentle ark towards it, the stabilizers brightening and emitting their usual hum. It was after she said this that she remembered her last visit there. _'Wait, Kreeli Comet is infested with pirates! I can't take Aero there; especially since I can't fit through those tight caves and tunnels.' _She immediately made a sharp turn, causing Aero to skid sideways in his seat. "Sorry, Sweety," she apologized to the wide-eyed boy, "But we're changing course."

Aero looked at the monitor in confusion. "Then, where are we going?"

"Back to Veldin," Aphelion answered. _'Ratchet would be a perfect escort,'_ she thought to herself, _'That is, if he even cares!'_

* * *

_Can't tell we like cliff hangers, huh? lol Well, now's the time to review please, if you don't mind._

_ITman496: I may have went a little overboard on the detail ^^;_

_Lomcat93: There's never too much detail._


	3. IRIS

_Authors Note: We are very sorry about the long wait! We were both very busy with important matters. But with Christmas break, we should be able to crank out chapter four rather quickly. R&R!  
__****_

Disclaimer: Neither ITman496 nor Lomcat93 own any aspect of Ratchet and Clank; the games belong to Insomniac Games. ITman496 is the sole owner of Aero. Lomcat93 owns nothing.

* * *

**Half-Breed**

**Chapter 3: I.R.I.S.**

_Aero looked at the monitor in confusion. "Then, where are we going?"_

_"Back to Veldin," Aphelion answered. 'Ratchet would be a perfect escort,' she thought to herself, 'That is, if he even cares!'_

----

"Back to Veldin? You mean the planet we were just on, right? Why?" Aero asked curiously. He was hoping that Aphelion had changed her mind and decided not to force him to return to Earth. _'Maybe she's understanding my situation a little better,'_ he thought excitedly, _'I hope she'll let me stay with her on Veldin!'_

"Well, if we're going to visit IRIS, then you'll need a bodyguard. The entire comet is property of a crew of space pirates," she explained.

"Space pirates?" Aero repeated, stifling a laugh. _'What? Am I all of a sudden stuck in a video game?'_

"Yes, space pirates," Aphelion answered. She sensed the doubtful tone in his voice. "I'm being serious, you know," she continued, "Space pirates are very dangerous around here; too dangerous for a young human to go wandering around by himself. So, we're going to pick up my pilot on Veldin. If he's in a cooperative mood, then he'll be able to escort you through the planet, so you can speak with IRIS."

"Oh," Aero replied. _'She has a pilot? Why didn't she tell me?'_ As he finished his thought, he glanced down at the seat and caught sight of a shiny object. He gazed at it curiously, then picked it up. It seemed to be a candy wrapper. _'Well, I guess she does have a pilot; a messy one,'_ he thought. "Hey, Aphelion, is this from your pilot?" he asked, holding the wrapper close to the monitor.

Aphelion noticed the shiny wrapper of a nanotech bar and instantly became annoyed. _'That Lombax! Why can't he learn to clean after himself?'_ "Yes, that was left by my pilot," she answered angrily, "I apologize for his awful cleaning habits."

"That's alright," replied Aero. He placed the wrapper back on the seat, not quite sure what else to do with it. He turned his attention back to the window. Streaks of light were flashing past Aphelion at an alarming speed. _'She must be in warp drive,'_ he thought in amazement. He wasn't yet used to the idea that space could be explored in a way such as this. He leaned back in the seat, feeling a bit tired. "Hey, Aphelion," he asked, "How long will it take to get back to Veldin?"

"Well, if I time it right, we should be there in thirty seconds," she replied in a dull tone.

Aero, however, was shocked. "Thirty seconds? Why isn't it going to take six hours, like before?"

"Well, I wasn't in warp drive before. I was just wandering, so I didn't want to speed through too much," she explained, "And, we'll be landing in ten seconds, so brace yourself."

At the sound of this, Aero sat up a bit straighter and looked down, checking to make sure he was still wearing his seat belt. After confirming this, he looked back out the window. The ground didn't seem too far away now, so he turned away and sat straight again.

Aphelion prepared her landing gear, focusing carefully on the ground. Despite her efforts, her landing gear bounced up sharply, so as to avoid smashing into the ground. Aero squeaked, surprised by the rough landing, then giggled. "What's so funny?" Aphelion asked him.

"That was a weird landing," Aero replied, still giggling a little.

"Well, I know something funnier," Aphelion said playfully. As Aero turned his attention to the screen, Aphelion honked her horn loudly. A series of shouts and curse words sounded from an under sized house nearby. Aero turned to look at it, and noticed the door was opening. A fuzzy, cat-like creature burst outside, looking outraged. His orange fur was clumped and messy, and his eyes drooped sleepily. "Aphelion! I was taking a nap!" he roared at the ship.

Aphelion laughed. "Well, your nap can wait; I have a mission for you," she began. She opened her canopy and continued, "Come meet my new friend, Aero. He's a human from planet Earth in the Milky Way Galaxy."

Ratchet shuffled forward, and tilted his head to the side slightly, looking confused. "Never heard of any of those," he commented. He peered into the cockpit. "Well, are you going to jump out so I can introduce myself?" he asked Aero.

Aero looked questioningly at Aphelion's monitor for a brief second, then crawled out. He walked shyly forward and stopped in front of the Lombax. He timidly waved a greeting to the odd creature and gazed expectantly at him. The creature extended his hand forward and said, "So, your name is Aero, and you're a human, right? Well, I'm Ratchet, and I'm a Lombax."

Aero smiled and shook his hand. His deep blue eyes glistened happily in the sunlight. _'I'm glad he doesn't seem so angry anymore,'_ he thought. He examined the Lombax in front of him, studying his features. He kept flicking his gaze back to his large ears. They were just so neat.

Aphelion's sensors focused on them, analyzing every move and every word spoken. She internally smiled, finding Aero's reaction to be a rather cute one.

Aero cocked his head slightly sideways, letting go of his hand. He glanced back at Aphelion, wondering what he should do. He had not planned this far ahead, blushing slightly in embarrassment.

Aphelion picked this up on her very sensitive scanner, and floated forward, the air rippling slightly under her as she moved. "Okay, Ratchet, ready to hear about my mission for you?" Aphelion waited for Ratchet to nod before continuing. "You see, Aero comes from a planet called Earth, which is located in the Milky Way Galaxy. He was being chased by his planet's government, and during a chase, he was somehow teleported here by an ancient, out of control lombaxian teleporter. I wish to see his home planet, so I can evaluate the situation there. But first, we need to visit IRIS, in order to recieve the coordinates to Earth. So, are you willing to do this for me?" she asked, anticipating his answer.

Ratchet, who had been clamly listening, nodded slowly. "I don't understand half of what you said, but sure, I can escort the kid."

Aphelion tilted forward happily, glad that Ratchet agreed. Not that she would let him get away without escorting Aero to IRIS, anyway.

Aero smiled slightly. _'I get to go into outer space again!' _he thought excitedly, already running toward Aphelion, who had already tilted down so he could climb in.

To Aero's dismay, Clank jumped into the passenger seat while Ratchet took the pilot's spot. Clank glanced at him and pointed to the back seat. "Do you mind if you sit in the back? I usually take this seat."

Aero nodded reluctantly and crawled in the back, glancing left and right at the slightly different surroundings. He sighed when he saw that most of his view was blocked by the wall of the cockpit, the window not going back as far as he had hoped. He still could lean forward and peek out of the small section that he had, though.

Ratchet guided Aphelion off the ground and into space, setting course for Kreeli Comet. The sky darkened as they left the atmosphere once more, and everyone peeked out of the windows to stare at the beauty of space. Aero was once again captivated by the twinkling stars, far away planets, and passing ships. Ratchet and Clank, however, remained indifferent to the environment; after all, this was just another shoot-and-run mission to them.

Aero kept gazing at the stars, their light twinkling in his eyes. He smiled softly, illuminated by the billions of pinpricks of light. Soon, he slid over to the other side, once again frozen in shock as he saw the other side of the universe. It was like the left side, but much different. His young mind could not comprehend it.

Clank glanced at the human out of the corner of his eye, amused at his amazement. Ratchet engaged Aphelion's warp drive, which caused the stars to become nothing but blurs of light. Aphelion's voice rang around the cockpit, "We should be there in three minutes."

At hearing her voice, he smiled even more, the glow of the multiple auroras of light around them casting a colorful glow on him. He held up a hand, using the light from the warp to cast a shadow on the back of Ratchet's seat, easily amused by the colorful shadow puppets.

Ratchet took no notice to Aero's childish antics, focusing instead on the rapidly approaching comet. "Prepare for landing," he warned everyone else. He cautiously got closer to the icy ground, taking care to land softly. As the ship came to a slow stop, Aphelion sensed a twinge of jealousy creep into her mind. 'How is it that Ratchet can pull off a better landing than me?' she silently pouted, opening her canopy moodily.

Aero, being as strange as he was, sensed her feelings somehow, even though she was not outputting any sign of them. "It's okay, Aphelion, you make great landings, they are more fun!" he said, patting her outer skin in an attempt to comfort her.

Aphelion felt extremely thankful for Aero's consideration, and bumped gently into him, trying to show her gratitude. Ratchet, who was already sauntering away, glanced back, looking confused at Aero's absence. "Well, hurry up, will you? I didn't come all the way out here for nothing," he called impatiently.

Aero giggled and playfully pushed her back, before getting hit with a gust of the ice cold air. He nearly fell over, ice already collecting on his skin. "Oh man that's c-cold!" he yelled, hiding against Aphelion in a pathetic attempt to shield himself from the wind, which didn't work. He wished he had something other then a T-Shirt and pants to protect him from the harsh winds.

Aphelion took notice to this and hovered around to block the wind. _'How could I have forgotten! The ambient temperature is less then -50 centigrade. I don't know how long such a small child could survive in that,' _she said, desperately trying to think of a way to not have her young charge freeze to death. Her sensors focused on Ratchet, and then her screen brightened. An idea.

Ratchet stopped walking when he realized that Aero was not following. He went to call out, but then his communicator beeped. He sighed. "What is it, Aphelion?"

"We appear to have forgotten that the temperature of Kreeli Comet on average is -50 centigrade. Aero is unable to function in it," she said, moving slightly to reveal the small body huddled against her somewhat warm nose.

Ratchet was stuck. "How are we gonna warm him up?" he asked himself, not having a clue. His brow scrunched in thought, trying to think of something. _'Maybe a portable jet engine that always blew on him...'_

Clank's antenna and eyes lit up as he also had an idea. "Ratchet, maybe we could consider getting him armor similar to yours. Your armor is the very reason why you are standing here, unfazed by the cold."

Ratchet's ears shot up. "That's a great idea, Clank!" he said, quickly running over to Aphelion and Aero. He skidded to a stop in front of the two, having slipped on the slick ice.

"Hey Aero, do you think you could last at least a minute standing in the open?" he asked the child, hoping he would say yes. He needed to in order for this to work.

"I t-think so... Why?"

"You'll see, just follow me." said Ratchet, starting to jog in the other direction, wanting Aero to be able to keep up.

Aero took a deep breath and ran after him, gasping when the harsh winds hit his small body. He quickly caught Ratchet, but barely, his shoes slipping on the ice. "W-Where are we g-going?" he asked, not enjoying this. It took every ounce of determination he had to not just drop to the ground and curl into a ball and die.

Ratchet looked back at him to verify that he was still there, before stopping in front of a strange machine. Aero slid to a stop next to him, looking at it curiously while his exposed body tried to get heat into itself, shaking so much that he could barely stand. "W-Whats this thing?"

Ratchet grinned. "This, Aero, is a Grummelnet Armor vendor." he announced proudly, knowing it would solve all of their problems. However, when it did not come online, he growled, his moment ruined. He walked behind it, twisted a little, and then swung at the vendor with his wrench, the loud crash of the wrench against cold metal awakening the Grummel inside. It shot up, looking at the two new customers.

"Hello, darlings. Would you like to buy the latest in armor technolog- oh, Ratchet! It's good to see such a fine customer as yourself. What brings you here?" asked the fashion conscious Grummel.

Ratchet pointed at Aero with his wrench. "He needs armor." he stated flatly.

The Grummel tilted its head, and then perked up. "Oh! Yes, good choice my furry friend. Those clothes you are in right now are not even in fashion, child. Let me show you the latest advancements in human armor."

Aero tilted his head sideways, staring at Ratchet. He gave him an odd look.

"How is it that there is human armor being made, if I am the only one out here, and I was unknown until then. And how did he know that I was a human, we never said!"

Ratchet shrugged. "At least he has armor," he replied, turning back to the strange vendor. "So, how much do you want for it?"

The Grummel shushed him. "You have to see it first, or else you might not realize just how fashionable it is," he said, making a hologram of the armor appear in front of the Lombax and Human.

Aero jumped in surprise and accidentally let his arms off of himself, yelping as the cold nipped at him. He looked at the armor, shivering furiously. "I-It's so cool!" he said, studying the rotating 3D representation of the armor, entranced by it.

"This is the Blue Flux Combat Armor System, the most advanced humanoid armor available. It is manufactured out of 1.2 centicubit thick trillium-carbonox alloys, with added raritanium plating in critical spots for added protection. Laser flux electromagnetic shielding around each major component keeps them protected, as well as powers the linear actuators to enhance movement strength and speed. A built in heating and cooling system keeps the suits computer and occupant at the perfect temperature even if the outside temperature is as cold as deep space or as hot as the core of a star. Optical laser arrays deploy insta-shields to protect the occupant from incoming projectiles, and they glow, which makes them the best fashion accessory."

"..." was all Aero could say, mostly in part to the fact that he was about to pass out from the cold. Ratchet, however, was looking at the grummel, internally questioning himself on how it had said all of that on one breath.

Ratchet perked up after seeing Aero, and walked toward it. "We'll take it," he said, "but how much is it?"

"This fabulous armor system is normally 1,000,000 bolts, but since you are our best customer, you get it for half price."

"500,000 bolts?! Yeesh!" he responded as he pulled out his holobook to pay for it. After doing so, he walked over to the shivering child and grabbed his hand, laughing at him as he saw that his hair was frozen solid.

"Okay Aero, just step into this chamber, and don't move until I say, okay?"

"O-Okay Ratchet..." said Aero, trudging into the changing chamber and standing. He felt a sudden rush of steam, and then a huge warmth around him. The tube slid back down, and he gasped as the seams of his shiny new armor flared to life, the blue working its way from head to toe from the center. He noted how the breeze was hitting him head on, yet he didn't feel a thing. Movement was also easier, as the linear actuators in each limb did the movements for him.

"T-This is amazing, Ratchet!" he gasped, his mind not able to even comprehend this advanced of technology. _'I don't even know what that grummel thing was talking about! And 500,000 bolts sounds like a lot of what ever their money is here... I really have to thank Ratchet for this!'_

"Thank you so much, Ratchet! This is so cool!" he exclaimed, _very_ excited.

Ratchet smiled slightly. "No problem, kid." he said coolly, as if he said that very often.

Aphelion had also been keeping track of the whole event from her landing spot, and was now intensely analyzing the new armor system. _'There has to be a way to connect remotely to it! Where could it be!' _she vented internally, trying to find a back door. After a few moments of scanning all of its computerized inputs and outputs, she eventually found a back door in the diagnostics connection. _'Aha! There you are! Now to connect to it...'_

Aphelion soon worked her way in, her electronic influence breaking into the suits computer and reprogramming it with her own custom code. She planned on keeping an eye on every aspect of Aero's health in the suit, since it had all the sensors needed. After this was finished, without Aero even knowing, she engaged the cameras, radars, and thermal scanners. After all was back to normal, she internally smiled.

This was more like it for her.

END CHAPTER  


* * *

_Wow, it sure is a good thing that Ratchet is rolling in bolts after his adventures, eh? He has millions to spare, and is still making some._

And Aero now has some armor to protect him from just about anything! And Aphelion has added her own touch to it as well.

Hope you liked chapter 3!


	4. Locating Earth

_Author's Note: Sorry for taking so long! Itman was busy with school, and Lomcat was not always on._

**Disclaimer: Neither Itman496 or Lomcat93 own any rights to Ratchet and Clank. Aero belongs to Itman496.**

* * *

**Half-Breed**

**Chapter 4: Locating Earth**

_Aphelion soon worked her way in, her electronic influence breaking into the suits computer and reprogramming it with her own custom code. She planned on keeping an eye on every aspect of Aero's health in the suit, since it had all the sensors needed. After this was finished, without Aero even knowing, she engaged the cameras, radars, and thermal scanners. After all was back to normal, she internally smiled._

This was more like it for her.

----

Ratchet turned to Aero, waving him over. "Come on, the sooner we get to IRIS, the sooner we can get out of here without becoming pirate chow shish kabobs." He swung himself around, taking the lead as they trotted down the icy path.

Aero nodded and followed after the Lombax, smiling to himself, enjoying his nice, warm, toasty suit. He trotted behind him, smiling at the almost non-existent effort required to move.

He really loved that feature of the suit most of all.

Ratchet halted, diving quickly behind a rock and staring wide-eyed at Aero. "Wait! Don't go any further!"

Aero glanced curiously at him, startled. He hurried after him, squeezing himself next to Ratchet as he tried to hide, too. "What are we hiding from?" he asked, gazing up at the Lombax.

Ratchet leaned over and pointed at something that stood in their paths. Aero peeked around the rock. His gaze came to rest on a large, metallic door, on which a robotic pirate head stared vacantly at it's surroundings.

Aphelion was also able to observe the door keeper by using the visual feed she acquired through Aero's suit. When she realized what she was looking at, she temporarily ignored the visual, trying her best not to burst out laughing. _'This will be interesting,'_ she thought, amused.

"You're scared of a door?" he asked incredulously.

"No," Ratchet replied a bit moodily, "It's just that I don't want him to see me yet." He backed closer to the wall and pulled out a small gadget.

Aero tilted his head sideways slightly at the sight of the hand held device. "What's that?"

Ratchet grinned. "This, Aero, is the Holo Pirate Disguise. Check this out!" he said as he hit the button, and a holo-field warped around him, turning him into a small robot pirate in a flash.

Aero gasped. "W-Wow... that's amazing!" he said, wide eyed. "Can I try?" he asked, wanting to be a pirate.

Ratchet's grin dropped. "Sorry, it only does this to one person, kid."

Aero frowned, a little disappointed. "Oh," he replied, watching as Pirate Ratchet wobbled clumsily over to the door. He stayed behind the rock, peering cautiously around it to get a better view. He feared that if he followed, the door keeper would realize that Ratchet was not authorized to enter.

After a minute of stumbling, Ratchet finally reached the door keeper. He gazed upwards, catching the robot's attention, who looked down at the Lombax, inspecting him. "How dare ye! You filthy land lubbers! If Ye want to pass, ye must do the jig!" As the door keeper finished its statement, three robotic, gun wielding pirates appeared, walking silently up to Ratchet to stand behind him. Aero's eyes widened at the sight, thinking it was a trap, but he remained speechless, unwilling to give away his position.

As the pirates stood behind him, a small, silver disco ball appeared suddenly, as if it just happened to fall from the sky. It began to spin and light up, flashing in different colors. The pirates began to dance, shouting out their movements, which the tiny, lopsided robot followed. Every once in a while, he would stumble backwards, but he'd quickly regain his balance and continue dancing, acting as if nothing happened.

Aphelion watched Ratchet's attempt at dancing, trying her best to hold back her laughter. She was still close enough to be heard by the two, and the last thing she wanted to do was give Ratchet an excuse to be moody. _'He could possibly take it out on Aero,'_ she thought, no longer having an urge to laugh.

Aero was now also trying to hold back his own laughter, and just barely succeeding. He watched as Ratchet very nearly fell over, stumbling back into another pirate as they all yelled "Shake yer' booty!" He fell over, making tiny squeaks of his own held in laughter, curled into a tight, twitching ball behind the large, frozen rock. Aphelion heard this and connected to the radio. "It's very funny, isn't it?" she said to him in a hushed tone, so she did not alert the pirates. Aero nodded in agreement. "Y-Yeah..."

Suddenly, they both got an idea. "Aphelion, can you record this?"

Aphelion mentally grinned. Aero was definitely meant to be with her. "Already started the recording, Sweety. We are going to have so much blackmailing material that we won't know what to do with it!" she said, still in a low volume.

As Ratchet finished the dance, the door slid out of the way. "Ye danced like a true pirate. Ye may pass," the door keeper said. Ratchet hobbled forward, stopping as he noticed a swarm of pirates, who were standing just behind the door. They turned curiously to Ratchet as he entered. The closest pirate took a few steps toward him and bent down to match his eye level.

"Aren't ye a bit short to be in such a dangerous career?" he asked, laughing loudly. The crowd of pirates around him began to join in, pointing mockingly at the tiny, robotic pirate that stood before them.

Ratchet felt anger surge through his mind. He growled, deactivating his hologuise while quickly pulling out his Combuster in the process. He proceeded to shoot at every piece of metal that was unfortunate enough to land under his gaze. Noise erupted out of the tight room as pirates cursed and tried to dodge fiery bullets, pulling out their cutlasses and pistols to meet the Lombax's challenge.

Unfortunately for them, Ratchet was very good at shooting things, and they were all destroyed within seconds. Ratchet growled and kicked one of their sparking heads on the ground.

Aero was now hiding behind the rock at the sound of gunfire, not wanting to be hit. After it had stopped, he peeked out from behind the frozen safe zone and looked at Ratchet. The sun glinted off of his armor and alerted Ratchet that he was there.

"Its okay, kid, you can come out now," he said, sighing and putting the Combuster into safe mode.

Aero nodded and trotted quickly into the room, stopping next to Ratchet. "Wow... you sure showed them who's boss," he commented, seeing all of the wreckage.

Ratchet shrugged. "It's just another day," he replied, walking into an adjacent room. Clank, who was now facing Aero, gazed in concern at him. "Are you alright? You seem shaken," he asked.

Aero looked up at Clank and nodded. "Yeah... thanks to what happened on Earth, whenever I hear gunfire I tend to just freeze up in fear, since it was usually directed at me. I'm sure I'll get used to it after a while." he said, hoping Clank would understand.

Clank nodded, his eyes softening. "Do not worry, you are safe with us," he replied.

Ratchet led them up a bolt crank activated elevator. Once they were up, they all quickly dove behind the nearest cover as bullets chased them. Ratchet kept his back to the boxes they hid behind, occasionally shooting to the side as he attempted to kill their attacker. Once the sound of gunfire faded, he peered cautiously around, his gaze sweeping the landscape as he searched for more unfortunate victims. When he saw nothing, he waved at Aero, signalling for him to follow, as he dashed out from the safety of the boxes.

Aero was shaking a little after that surprise, and ran after Ratchet, not wanting to be separated. He kept up with the fast Lombax thanks to his armor powering him along with more energy then his small body could ever dream of providing, and soon caught up to the Lombax.

Right as a cannon had fired at them.

Aero froze at the sight of the large ball of pressurized plasma careening toward him, his past experiences causing him to just stop. This was a bad move, as the ball soon slammed into him, sending his small, lightweight body flying across the area, smashing into an ice wall, before landing on the ground with a sickening _thud_. He groaned and looked at Ratchet with pain filled eyes, his body not wanting to move so soon after the heavy impact.

Ratchet turned as he heard the cannon ball whistle past him. He caught sight of the injured human, pulling out the Negotiator as he took in the image. He turned to face the enemy, ears lowered to meet the back of his head. As soon as he saw the shine of a metal pirate, he pulled the trigger, causing a rocket to zoom toward it, blowing it to bits before he could blink.

Aero saw the rocket go off, but didn't react, his senses foggy. His eyes were dull, his breathing in small pants instead of calm breaths.

Aphelion was quite alarmed. She was combing through his body with her sensors, trying to pick up every issue. _'It appears that he has suffered no injuries. Just got the wind knocked out of him. Poor thing,'_ she thought to herself, relieved that he was physically okay.

"Aero?" No response. "Sweety? Are you alright?" she asked, her voice showing a little of her panic.

"Ugh... Y-Yeah... I'm fine, Aphelion..." he said in a small voice, his body starting to react to things again, coming to his feet. "What happened?" he asked, rubbing his side where the plasma round had collided with him.

"You were hit by a cannon round, hon," she said, "But Ratchet took out the cannon with the Negotiator, so you should be okay now."

Aero nodded and walked over to Ratchet, looking up at him. "Thanks, Ratchet." he said quietly, still a little weak.

Ratchet nodded to him, storing away the Negotiator. "No problem." He turned back to the path they were following and trudged on at a steady pace. "Let's continue, if you're feeling up to it," he called back to Aero.

Aero nodded weakly and limped behind him, still somewhat out of it. He was dazed, but had recovered enough to at least follow the Lombax. After a little while, he caught up, but his maximum speed was more of a walk for Ratchet.

Clank gazed back at Aero, seemingly unbothered by Ratchet's bouncy walk. "Are you alright?" he asked.

Aero looked up at Clank, still barely keeping up. "Yeah... Just g-got the wind knocked out of me." he responded quietly, now slightly angry that he had let himself get hit by the cannon round so easily.

Clank nodded. "Just let us know if you wish to stop or slow down."

Aero nodded but sped up a little, his body starting to recover. "Nah, its alright. I'm starting to feel a little better. Thanks for saying that, though." he said, smiling at Clank.

Clank nodded again, his eyes soft with empathy. Ratchet, who had been too absorbed in the path to notice their discussion, turned his head slightly toward the two. "We should be there soon," he informed, turning to face forward again, "I'm surprised at the lack of pirates there are today."

Aero soon was walking beside him, looking around curiously. "I'm not complaining about that. Don't jinx us!" he said, grinning and laughing to himself.

"Jinx us? Right," he replied, raising an eyebrow playfully, "That only works with 'mission accomplished,' so you don't have to worry about anything."

Aero smiled. He liked Ratchet's attitude. It always seemed to cheer him up, much like Aphelion. He started to look around again, and something scary was caught in the corner of his vision. He looked over at it, and realized that there was a large robot, armed with a huge cannon for a hand, standing a mere several cubits away from them. Aero froze in fear, but this time dove behind Ratchet, not wanting to get blasted again.

"What the...?" Ratchet said, turning in circles to glance at Aero. "What are you doing?" He gazed thoughtfully for a second, then flicked his ears. "Your trick isn't working, you know," he said, unamused.

Aero was freaking out, shaking slightly. "R-Ratchet! I'm not joking! Look over there! It's gonna kill us!" he cried, trying to turn him towards the monster.

Ratchet's skepticism vanished as he studied Aero's fearful look. He turned around, caught sight of the Rogue, and pushed Aero to the side. "What are you doing, kid? Run off somewhere while I kill this thing!"

Aero fell backwards, landing on his back. He quickly scrambled to his feet and bolted behind a rock.

"Where do you think yer' goin', land lover." said the Rogue, before firing a cannon ball at the rock. The large blinking red ball rolled up to the rock, the blinking getting faster and faster before a small explosion took out the rock, sending Aero flying back. He yelled out in pain as he tumbled through the air, landing behind another rock rather painfully.

_'Oh jeez,'_ Ratchet thought, panicking. He turned to the Rogue, trying to decide which weapon would be best for tearing apart scrap metal. He smiled darkly as he pulled out the Negotiator, aiming carefully at it. "I heard metal tears easily when making contact with missiles," he said, pulling the trigger.

The Rogue froze. The whole area went silent as the trigger clicked, and a small hiss emitted, before a loud _woosh_ sounded, a rocket flying out of the gun, heading right toward the Rogue. It sped through the air, its cold metal casing heading straight toward the large robot in a blaze of glory.

A small tap sounded as it collided.

There was silence for a split second, so quick that only Clank and the Rogue could notice it, before the missile exploded, ripping a hole straight through its core.

Ratchet flicked his ears in amusement, smiling as he stored his Negotiator away. Murdering villainous robots always seemed to make him feel a bit happier. He turned to the area that he saw Aero dash off to, searching around for him. "You can come out now," he called, waiting.

Aero groaned and sat up, rubbing his aching head. "I don't wanna ever do _that_ again..." he said, frowning. He trudged over to Ratchet, sighing. "Thanks for taking that robot out. That explosion hurt... a lot."

"Yeah, they aren't supposed to feel good," Ratchet replied, turning back to their path, "I think we're getting close now." He started walking again, glancing back at Aero briefly.

Aero just focused on putting one foot in front of the other, still a little woozy. "What exactly are we looking for, anyway?" he said, his eyes darting in every direction, looking for something that gave away a super computer. He truly expected a sign that said 'Super computer: next right' or something obvious like that.

"Well, IRIS is in a room somewhere around here, and last time there was a Rogue near that room, so I think we're pretty close by now," Ratchet answered quickly. He stopped for a second, turning to look in all directions with his eyes narrowed. Clank blinked several times then turned slightly to face Ratchet.

"Um, Ratchet? Turn around."

"Huh?" The Lombax jumped, turning quickly with his wrench raised defensively. His eyes widened in astonishment as he found himself looking at the now familiar entrance to the IRIS supercomputer. He rolled his eyes, sighed, and trudged forward. "I can't believe I didn't notice that," he mumbled.

Aero saw what had happened and giggled to himself, laughing at what Ratchet had done. He walked into the room with them, gasping at the large wall of screens. He soon stood back, looking at everything in awe. "So uh... how do we turn it on?"

Ratchet calmly walked forward, glanced curiously at the screens, and pressed a button. The screens flicked to life, depicting seemingly random videos and pictures. "Oh, you two again," a robotic voice greeted, "What is it this time?"

Aero jumped at the sudden activity. He walked up to the screens, looking at everything. They appeared to be past adventures of Ratchet and Clank. He was so absorbed by them, that he didn't even hear IRIS. "Woooooowwwww....." said Aero, watching as Ratchet basically went on a rampage through a hoard of enemy robots.

Ratchet gazed at the machine, paying no attention to Aero as his eyes took in the controls. Clank watched him for a short moment before turning to Aero, amused at his astonishment. "Aero, maybe you should ask IRIS where Earth is," he called.

Ratchet flicked one ear, turning to face Clank. "Why should he? I'm capable of doing that myself."

Clank narrowed his eyes, annoyed at the Lombax's close-mindedness. He inched towards him, whispering, "It is not your home planet, it is his. You should allow him to participate so he feels useful."

Ratchet stared at him for a moment, then looked at Aero, and then back to Clank. He gave a stiff nod. "Fine," he said simply, turning to Aero and waving in the direction of the supercomputer.

Aero looked at him and nodded, turning away from the screen and looking around, looking for a central 'hub' to ask his question at. Once he set sight on the larger monitor, he backed away nervously. "U-Uh, hello..." he said to it, not knowing how it would respond.

"Good evening," IRIS responded flatly. She said nothing more, silence filling the room as she waited. You could only hear the dull hum of all the computer systems in the background.

Aero looked at the screen and blinked. "Uh..." he said, unsure of how he should ask. _'Oh well... here goes nothing...' _"Do you know where planet Earth is?"

"Earth," said the computer flatly, "located in the Milkyway Galaxy, which is approximately seventy two million light years away from the Polaris Galaxy. I have sent the coordinates to your ship."

"Great," Ratchet said, flicking his tail, "Let's get out of here."

"Wait, why such a rush?" asked Aero, not wanting to go back _there_.

"Well, would you rather stay so more pirates have the opportunity to ambush us?" he asked, turning and heading toward the door.

"Yeah well... I'm sure that they won't come near you after that..." he said, stalling. He did not want to go back to earth any time soon.

Ratchet watched him, his gaze unfaltering, before turning away, shrugging. He continued walking towards the door, his pace steady and unhurried.

Aero sighed. His chances of getting out of returning to Earth looked slim.

* * *

End


	5. Area 51

_Author's Note: So sorry for not updating in so long! ^^; Writers block, you know? ^^;_

_**Disclaimer: Neither ITman496 nor Lomcat93 own any aspect of Ratchet and Clank; the games belong to Insomniac Games. ITman496 is the sole owner of Aero. Lomcat93 owns nothing.**_

* * *

**Half-Breed**

**Chapter 5: Area 51**

_"Earth," said the computer flatly, "located in the Milkyway Galaxy, which is approximately seventy two million light years away from the Polaris Galaxy. I have sent the coordinates to your ship."_

_"Great," Ratchet said, flicking his tail, "Let's get out of here."_

_"Wait, why such a rush?" asked Aero, not wanting to go back there._

_"Well, would you rather stay so more pirates have the opportunity to ambush us?" he asked, turning and heading toward the door._

_"Yeah well... I'm sure that they won't come near you after that..." he said, stalling. He did not want to go back to earth any time soon._

_Ratchet watched him, his gaze unfaltering, before turning away, shrugging. He continued walking towards the door, his pace steady and unhurried._

_Aero sighed. His chances of getting out of returning to Earth looked slim._

-----

Aero looked at Ratchet with slight worry, trying to think of a way to stall for time. He scrunched his eyes shut in thought, then opened them wide in realization.

"Uh... hey Ratchet!"

Ratchet turned and looked at him, stopping. "What is it, Aero?" he asked, tilting his head very slightly to the right.

"Uh..." Aero paused for a moment, trying to finalize what he was going to ask, trying to hold back his grin of victory. "What is that thing over there?" he asked, pointing behind Ratchet.

Ratchet turned around curiously and squinted, trying to see the mystery object that Aero was referring to. He placed his wrench on the ground and leaned forward. His eyes fell onto an empty pirate cannon turret. "Oh, Aero, that's just an empty cannon, the ones that the pirates love to use to shoot at us. Now can we just go?" He asked, sick of waiting.

Aero sighed and followed him, his body noticeably drooping. But he wasn't trudging. He wanted to, but Aphelion wouldn't let him, the actuators straightening his posture and forcing him to walk normally. He made a small growl, about to yell at the suit to stop not letting him slouch. What if he wanted to slouch!

The trio made their way back, Aero turning and looking at the blasted and charred chassis of the pirates. Ratchet had sure shown them! He paused and looked up, watching a bit of the asteroid that they were standing on pass in the sky, mesmerized for a second. He soon snapped out of it, trotting a little faster to catch up with Ratchet, his armored boots making soft crunches in the iced up ground.

After roughly 10 minutes, they made it to the landing site. Aero was bored and started to kick small blocks of ice into the path, smiling slightly. Clank detached, landing on the ground as he watched Ratchet climb into the side of Aphelion, before falling onto his back as he realized something. "Hey! I left my wrench in IRIS! Ugh... Now I have to go and get it." he grumbled and began to walk back, passing Aero. "Stay with Aphelion, okay? I'll only be a minute.

He walked forward, and went to activate his charge boots. However, as they powered up and he took his last step before flight, he stepped on a chunk of ice that Aero had kicked in the way, causing his foot to slide forward. He fell back, trying to disable the charge boots, but it was too late. The boots flashed before igniting, sending him skyward. He flew 25 feet into the air before they shut down, leaving him floating for a second. He went to activate Clank's thrusters, but his jaw dropped as he realized Clank was on the ground next to Aphelion.

He made his trademark scream as he fell, flailing his limbs, his ears fluttering in the wind.

He hit the ground so hard that he sunk into it, only his tail sticking out. It twiched a few times, before the iced Lombax pushed his way back out, growling. "Okay, lets try that again. **Without falling.**"

He took a good look at the ground in front of him, making sure there was nothing to step on, and then sighed, his ears drooping slightly. He took one step forward and activated the charge boots once more, shooting forward along the path to IRIS.

Soon, Ratchet, Clank, Aero, and Aphelion were off towards their newly acquired co-ordinates, Earth. Aphelion was rocking back and forth slightly, gracefully soaring through space. She was not in hyperspace at the moment, as Ratchet didn't know what sorts of defenses Earth had. He wanted to approach slowly and carefully.

Aero, on the other hand, was stretched out on the back seat, yawning slightly. "Hey, how much longer till we get there?" he asked, scratching the back of his head.

As Ratchet was breathing in to reply with a snarky 'When we get there' response, Aphelion quickly replied for him. "We will arrive at Earth in approximately 2 hours, 31 minutes, and 17.274 seconds."

Aero and Ratchet blinked in unison at the precision of her response. But then Aero also sighed. "That long, huh? I might take a nap. Let me know when we get there, so we can turn around..." he said, mumbling the last part. He rolled onto his side and curled up in the soft back seat, quickly falling asleep.

Aphelion, Ratchet, and Clank all looked down sadly. Well, Aphelion would have if she had eyes. Instead, she just let her cockpit lights dim slightly. She didn't really want to force him to go back to Earth, but she knew he didn't belong here. He is a human, not any of the species that they had seen before.

She just hoped that Aero's descriptions of Earth were untrue.

-----

_Meanwhile: _**Area 51, Nevada: Earth**

Commander Greg slammed his hands onto the desk, staring at the soldier in front of him with a death glare. "You did WHAT?!" he yelled, causing the soldier to take a step back in fear of being hurt. "You LOST HIM?!" he yelled even louder, the whole room shaking from his loud voice.

The soldier nodded weakly, looking at the ground. "He ran into some sort of teleporter, the one we had in the top secret storage chamber in section C. It would never activate for us, but for some reason, when he came near it, it flared to life and sent him away. There was no trace of him anywhere in the building, and satellite scans have yet to locate him, so I doubt he's even on earth at this point."

The commander shook his head. "I don't care. He is the ONLY being on this planet with those powers, and I want him here to experiment on. If you don't locate him and bring him to me in three days, you are going to wish you were him!" he said, slamming his fists into the desk when he said that last part. The solder gulped and nodded, quickly running out of the room, nearly running right into another soldier in the process.

Greg looked out the window, into the night sky, at the stars. "I don't care where you are, Aero. You will come back to me." he said darkly.

-----

Aphelion's hull buffetted in the atmosphere as they approached Earth. "This planet looks so... I just can't describe it. Its like a mix of Kerwan, Florana, Veldin, everything! I've never seen something so varried." she said, her scanners running all over the planet. She was scouting a place to land that was uncrowded, so she picked out possibly the worst location possible. A clearing several miles away from a large building, in Nevada.

Area 51.

-----

Alarms went off as the radars picked up on an unidentified flying spacecraft. The operators in the control center had been tracking it ever since it entered Earth's atmosphere. Commander Greg walked into the control room. "What is going on, whats with the alarm!" he asked rather loudly, looking at one of the operators at the console. The soldier flinched and looked up at the daunting figure of the commander. "W-We are tracking an unidentified spacecraft that just landed 3.3 miles away from here."

Greg blinked and looked at the radar screen, and then grinned cruelly. "Looks like our little experiment has decided to come home. Send Alpha and Beta units after them, and destroy everything except the boy."

-----  
Aphelion landed, this time rather softly. She had been practicing in her built in simulator. While she gloated in victory, Ratchet, Clank, and Aero climbed out of the safety of her cockpit, a wind rustling by.

That was a big mistake.

The moment they got out, several loud tings and whirs signaled that bullets were being fired at them. Ratchet took immediate action and dove onto Aero, grabbing him and running behind Aphelion. The soldiers kept shooting, now concentraiting their fire at Ratchet. His armor was designed for energy, not bullets, and was denting further and further. It would not last much longer. Aero gasped, seeing this. "Ratchet!"

Ratchet growled, trying to move, to pull out a weapon, but they gave him no chance. There was just too many of them.

Aphelion's canopy was still open, and as it closed, a gust of wind blew by, sucking the until now, completely forgotten nanotech bar wrapper. It just made it through the gap as Aphelion's canopy shut, blowing in the breeze. It drifted toward the soldiers, and then was sucked into one of their gattling gun's cooling air intakes. The gun kept firing, but soon started to glow red hot, and then started to missfire, before exploding. The solders near it all got knocked off of their feet, and the hail of bullets ceased as the two battalions tried to figure out what had exploded.

Ratchet took this oppertunity to get out from behind Aphelion and open fire, firing a huge 10 second burst of Ryno firepower. After the dust cleared, there was no more Alpha and Beta units.

As soon as the area was silent once more, Ratchet's thoughts drifted to what had happened. Why did they stop? They nearly had him! His helmet was dented in on the side, he really needed to repair it.

"Aphelion. Did you see what happened?" he asked, really curious as to why they had stopped.

Aphelion didn't respond for a moment, still in shock. "You wouldn't believe it if I told you. A nanotech bar wrapper had gotten sucked out of my cockpit and got jammed into their machine gun's cooling vent, and that caused it to overheat and explode."

Ratchet's jaw dropped. "You are right, I wouldn't if I wasn't there."

Aero, at this point, was curled up tightly against Aphelion's wing, tears leaving streaks down his face. He was making small whimpers, his whole body trembling. His mind was flashing over all the horrible things that had occured in this very area. Why here. Why, of all the places on Earth, did Aphelion have to bring them HERE.

Aphelion, being the one integrated with his suit, was the first to notice. "Whats wrong Sweety?" she asked in her soothing voice, dimming Aero's visor, trying to calm him down. But it didn't work. He just curled up tighter, trying to shut out everything.

Aphelion would have none of this.

"Sweety. Tell me what's wrong." he asked sternly, her voice still soothing to hear. She was deeply concerned about Aero, not wanting him to ever be sad.

Aero made a small whimper in response. "Y-You landed next to the government building that they use to try and experiment on me! Area 51!" he said, crawling under her wing.

Aphelion sighed audibly and moved backwards, uncovering the small, shaking child. "Ratchet, Clank, can you place him in the pilot's seat?"

Ratchet gasped. "B-But that's _my_ seat!" he said, aghast that Aphelion would even _consider_ putting Aero there.

Aphelion sighed again. "Just do it, please?" she said, her patience wearing thin. She wanted to calm Aero, and to get that teleporter. Judging by the fact that they have been here for all of 5 minutes, and nearly died, she didn't want Aero to stay here. She blacked out his visor as he was placed into the seat, trying to calm him.

"Sweety, I know how you don't like this planet very much, I can see why. So lets just get that teleporter, and get out of here, okay? I'm not going to make you stay. Does that make you feel better, sweety?"

Aero blinked open his teary eyes, looking at the blacked out visor, the blue digits telling him about his environment still visible. "R-Really..? Y-You aren't going to dump me here to fend for myself..?"

Aphelion's heart broke for the poor child, as it did often. Good thing she saved backups of it.

"You poor thing. Try and hold yourself together for just a little while, we need you to help us find that teleporter." she said softly, before clearing the black on his visor, letting him see once more.

Aero nodded and sniffed slightly, sitting up. Aphelion automatically disabled the helmet, letting it fold back to a small compartment below his neck. He needed the fresh air. Aero rubbed his head, running his hands through his shoulder length hair. "Can we do this as fast as we can..? I d-don't like going in there..." he said quietly.

"Sure thing, Aero. You heard him, Ratchet. Lets get this over with so we can get out of here!" she said triumphantly, powering up her engines. Ratchet nodded and hopped in, picking him up and depositing him in the back seat. Clank hopped into the passenger seat, and they all strapped in. Aphelion quickly took to the air, blasters armed.

-----

Commander Greg's jaw was in china. "How did that blasted creature wipe out Alpha and Beta units with one blast! That's impossible! No matter... Aero is with them, and the sensors picked up that they wanted the teleporter. So they have to come to us..." he said, scheming.

His eyes lit up.

"Get Gamma and Delta units to the storage area in section C. I want them armed with EMPs." He said darkly, before walking away to his private quarters.

Soon, in the top secret storage area, 48 soldiers had collected behind numerous objects, their EMP rifles armed and ready.

Something was going to happen, and it wouldn't be good for anyone.

-----

Aphelion was soaring roughly 30 feet above the desert sand, careening straight for the base. Her blasters charged for a few seconds before firing, blasting a huge hole in the wall. Her wings split into their X formation, and the top one pitched down, and the bottom one pitched up, making a very effective air brake. She quickly slowed into a hover, the wings reverting. "Now where is that blasted thing." she said out loud, spinning in place.

It was sitting in the middle of the room, completely in the open. Not once did it go through Aphelion's mind that this was too easy.

And that was a mistake.

A beam of electromagnetic energy streaked through the air, slamming into Aphelion. She let out a scream of pain as electricity arced around her metal hull, and inside. Aero screamed in pain as he was electrocuted, as was Ratchet and Clank. Clank's eyes flickered a few times, before going dark, his body slumping. Ratchet made a small scream before falling to a similar fate. Aero, however, due to being used to painful experiments, stayed conscious.

Aphelion fell to the ground with a loud slam, her engines cutting out. Aero whimpered as all the instruments and lights went dark, Aphelion going offline. His suit also went offline, the actuators shutting down, putting him back at his normal, weak strength.

Everything was dead silent for a moment, before a loud slam was heard, and the canopy was pried open. Several hands reached in and grabbed Aero, causing him to scream and struggle, grabbing onto the seat in front of him. But they were too strong, and tore him off, slamming the canopy shut.

The soldiers held a struggling Aero, when a scientist in a white lab coat came up and injected him with a sedative. Within seconds, his struggles started to calm, his cries for help quietening to small whimpers.

Commander Greg walked in, an air of dominance around him. "Well, who do we have here... An experiment deciding to return to its cage? Take him. Extract his powers, tonight." he said, before turning around and walking away.

"Yes sir!" said the soldiers in unison, 2 of them taking Aero to a lab, while the remaining got Aphelion onto a forklift, putting her into a containment cell.

Aero struggled weakly, but the soldiers likely didn't even notice. He made a sad whine.

He knew coming to earth was a bad idea.

END CHAPTER

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_I'm SO sorry that this fic wasn't updated in so long! Writers block, you know? And I can say that I wrote this chapter 100% on my own! Myst didn't help, other then with some ideas... ^^; _


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